General Information

Degree Programs

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, incorporating the School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, offers programs of study leading to the advanced degrees of Master of Science, Master of Engineering and Doctor of Philosophy. The degree programs in the Department are organized along the traditional disciplines found in civil engineering including construction engineering and management, environmental engineering and science, geotechnical or geoenvironmental engineering, structural engineering, transportation engineering and water resources engineering. In addition, candidates with strong interests in the resource extraction industries can obtain advanced degrees in mining and petroleum engineering. The Department offers a wide range of course options permitting the flexibility to arrange programs for candidates who obtained their undergraduate degree in fields other than civil engineering including students with four year science degrees. In addition to discipline specific degree programs, the Department offers an interdisciplinary degree program in Civil and Environmental Engineering that provides the opportunities for interdisciplinary study in more than one research areas.

Research

Civil and Environmental Engineering

The Department has a major research orientation. Active research areas in the Department include the following:

Civil:

Construction engineering and management with a focus on productivity improvement, computing applications including artificial intelligence, simulation modelling and information management, optimization of aggregate and concrete manufacturing, and construction planning and control; geotechnical engineering and environmental geotechniques including the study of soil mechanics, rock mechanics, foundation engineering, engineering geology, permafrost, storage, disposal, and containment of industrial wastes and pollutants and contaminated or disturbed earthy material and groundwater; structural engineering with a strong focus in the structural behaviour and design of concrete, masonry, steel and timber members and frames in addition to structural analysis and solid mechanics; transportation engineering with a focus on urban transportation planning and evaluation, sustainable transportation, traffic engineering and road safety; and water resources engineering including the study of hydraulics, hydrology, river behavior, fluid mechanics, wave dynamics and climate change, interdisciplinary research with more than one focus such as in mining and petroleum engineering, in nano-material and environmental engineering, in biomechanics and structural engineering, and in transportation pavement material and geotechnical engineering, etc.

Environmental:

Environmental engineering and science with a focus on processes in air, soil, and water; system risk assessment and public health engineering; solid waste management; environmental hydraulics; applied microbiology and parasitology; applied chemistry; mathematical modelling of environmental systems; neural network technology; industrial waste management; and disposal and fate of pollutants in the environment.

School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering

The School's graduate degree program is operated in conjunction with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of advanced research in the resource industries. Areas of research include the following:

Entrance Requirements

The Department's minimum admission requirements are a four-year undergraduate degree with an average of 3.0 in the last two years of undergraduate work (or graduate work) at the University of Alberta, or an equivalent qualification from a recognized institution and a TOEFL score of 550 (paper-based) or 88 (internet-based with at least 20 per section) or an equivalent approved English language examination where applicable (see English Language Requirement).

Financial Assistance

Financial assistance is available through the Department to students in the form of research assistantships, teaching assistantships, tuition scholarships and a variety of awards administered by the University and affiliated institutions. Details may be found at www.gradstudies.ualberta.ca

Graduate Program Requirements

Degree Specializations

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering encompasses a broad field of engineering and has eight main engineering disciplines: construction, environmental, geotechnical, mining, petroleum, structural, transportation, and water resources. The Department offers the following degree specializations in all of the degree programs. Each has a distinctive course offering designed to provide the student with advanced training in the area. In addition, the department offers graduate degrees in civil engineering without a specialization for interdisciplinary research within civil engineering.

Construction Engineering and Management:

The focus is on the main principles and techniques of planning, control, execution and engineering of construction projects. The degree emphasizes construction management principles, computing applications in construction and the fundamentals of construction engineering.

Environmental Engineering:

The degree focuses on the fundamental chemical, physical, and biological processes that can be adapted to water, soil, and air systems. The emphasis is on public health and environmental protection technology with electives in environmental management and impact assessment. Topic areas include water and waste treatment; solid and hazardous waste treatment; industrial waste treatment; water quality modelling; and municipal collection and distribution systems.

Environmental Science:

Students who have four-year science degrees and who wish to study applied environmental science may pursue an Environmental Science degree in civil engineering. This degree permits the study of applied environmental science in areas such as environmental health, chemistry, microbiology, zoology, or geography.

Geotechnical Engineering:

The degree focuses on the study of soil mechanics, rock mechanics, foundation engineering, engineering geology and permafrost with emphasis on the behavior of natural materials and field problems. Full use is made of modern design tools such as advanced techniques in laboratory and field testing and numerical methods of analysis.

Geoenvironmental Engineering:

The geoenvironment is that portion of our environment consisting of natural and man-made earth materials on and below the ground surface. Geoenvironmental engineering focuses on the management and control strategies of the geoenvironment from the standpoint of storage, disposal, and containment of industrial wastes and pollutants and contaminated or disturbed earthy material and groundwater.

Mining Engineering:

The mining industry is a major economic engine in Canada and elsewhere. Mining engineering degrees offered by the Department include studies in mineral economics, geomechanics, geostatistics, simulation of mining systems; mine planning and design; surface and underground mining equipment and methods; and mine property evaluation.

Petroleum Engineering:

The petroleum industry is comprised of exploration, production and refining activities related to hydrocarbons. Of great importance is reservoir engineering where efficient recovery of hydrocarbons is a major objective. Important topics include multiphase flow through porous media; immiscible, miscible and micellar flooding; heavy oil recovery using thermal energy; interfacial phenomena; pressure build up and drawdown analysis; and mathematical simulation of petroleum recovery systems.

Structural Engineering:

This degree focuses on the analysis and design of buildings, bridges, and other structures. Emphasis is on structural systems of reinforced concrete, structural steel, and engineered masonry, but innovative and emerging technologies in areas related to timber, prestressed concrete, composite materials, and biomechanics are also covered.

Transportation Engineering:

Graduate degrees concentrate on the main principles and techniques involved in the planning, evaluation, design and control of transportation systems. Research topics include urban transportation systems, land use-transportation interactions and the environmental impacts of transportation systems.

Water Resources Engineering:

Graduate programs concentrate on the physical aspects of our environment as they relate to water supply, river problems, fish habitat, flood risk, pollutant dispersion and climate change. The program encompasses a wide variety of research topics including surface water hydrology; environmental fluid mechanics; computational hydraulics; river engineering; river and lake ice engineering; cold regions hydraulics and hydrology; urban hydraulics; design of hydraulic structures; air-sea interactions; surface wave mechanics; and water resources planning and management.

Graduate Courses

Undergraduate and Graduate courses can be found in Civil and Environmental Courses, or Mining and Petroleum Courses.